VDI Issue?

[ajcrowder]

Hey everyone,

 

I was leading a rehearsal last night and was having some weird problems with my JTV.  I use a Helix currently and earlier in the day had tweaked a couple patches and tried a few different guitar models, all with good results.  I was however just using a 1/4 cable in my office.

 

At rehearsal I switched over to the VDI to make sure my battery wouldn't die from playing a lot during the day and noticed a few different things:

  -  Tuning  -  With the VDI cable, I was unable to get the guitar in tune.  The tuner on the Helix looked fine, even just listening with my ears and the volume down sounded fine.  But with the volume on (models and mags I think) the tuning was all over the place.  Couldn't play a chord without sounding strange

 -  EQ/Frequency/Phasing? -  With the VDI I was also noticing that none of the sounds I had programmed were anywhere close to what I had worked on.  I'm used to this a little bit with going from headphones to a floor wedge (through PA) but I could not believe how awfully different it was last night.  It sounded as if I had no lows, extremely bright highs and a thin sound.  

After about a half an hour, I got fed up and grabbed a 1/4 in. cable (should've done sooner).  All the problems were gone!  I had my sounds back that I had been happy with.

Has anyone had a similar issue?  Upon a quick visual inspection, there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with the VDI and it shouldn't be the guitar if it all works well through the 1/4 in jack.  Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated!  Thanks

[cruisinon2]

Folks have been griping about the tone of VDI vs. 1/4" for years. Differences usually get blamed on the impedance of a standard cable vs. VDI...some guys prefer one over the other. The only solution if you hear a huge difference, is tweaking your way out on the Helix.